Lorimar Film Entertainment/Summary
Background: Lorimar Productions began to produce movies in 1971, starting with the independent film The Sporting Club. Later on, the company acquired the Allied Artists Pictures library in 1980 when said company went under, but it didn't have its own movie arm until April 21, 1986 when Lorimar-Telepictures was formed by the merging of Lorimar with Telepictures, forming "Lorimar Motion Pictures"; however, these television divisions became separate companies in 1988, and this film unit was reincorporated as "Lorimar Film Entertainment", closing definitively in 1990. Today, most of the Lorimar movie releases, with some exceptions, are currently held by Warner Bros. Entertainment. Lorimar never used a logo until the release of The Postman Rings Always Twice. 1st Logo (March 20, 1981) Nicknames: "The Red Line of Doom", "Script" Logo: Same as the TV counterpart, except the text is in red. FX/SFX: Same as the TV counterpart. Music/Sounds: None. Availability: Seen as a placeholder logo on the 1981 remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Editor's Note: None. 2nd Logo (April 24, 1981-January 31, 1986) Nicknames: "The Red Line of Doom II", "Script II" Logo: Same as the previous logo, except the text is more smaller, and it was more slowed down. The words "PRESENTS" in white, and in spaced-out letters is shown below the word "LORIMAR". Variant: On Tank, The Last Starfighter and Power, there's a registered trademark symbol "®" appearing symbol on the lower-right hand corner of the letter "R". FX/SFX: Same as the TV version, except slowed down. Music/Sounds: Silent, or usually the film's opening audio. Availability: Pretty rare. Warner Bros. has a poor habit of plastering their logo over this one, while Universal leaves it intact most of the time. The silent version after the 1963 Universal logo is intact on the DVD and recent TV airing of Tank. ''Also intact on the DVD of ''Escape to Victory (''with the Paramount logos removed). The first VHS, and recent DVD/Blu-ray of ''The Last Starfighter retain it after the 1963 Universal logo, but was plastered with the WB shield on old full-screen TV airings, and the 1997 Universal logo on the 1999 DVD release. The last film to carry the logo was Power. Editor's Note: Not as impactful as the TV logo, due to it's similarity and it's lack of the general theme. 3rd Logo (June 27, 1986-September 9, 1988) Nicknames: "Lorimar Sunburst", "L-T Sunburst" Logo: We start on a yellow flash with a white sunburst in the middle. As the flash fades, the logo slowly comes forward. It consists of the word "LORIMAR" with "MOTION PICTURES" under that. All the words are red with white and blue outlines. Under the "MOTION PICTURES" text is an upside down red triangle shape with white lines to give the logo a 3-D look. At the point of the triangle is a half circle shaped space, and as the logo forms, the sunburst becomes a little yellow flash of light that moves downward and enters the opening at the logo's bottom. Under the entire logo is the byline "A DIVISION OF LORIMAR-TELEPICTURES". Trivia: Because of the usage of lights and flashes, this logo has been compared to the popular Columbia Pictures Television logo of 1976-82, hence it's also being called a "sunburst". Variant: The first Lorimar movies using this logo had no white and blue outlines, making the logo almost entirely red. FX/SFX: The moving logo and the light joining it. Music/Sounds: Same as the 1st logo; it was silent or the film's opening audio. Availability: Quite rare considering the logo's short lifespan in addition to the rampant plastering habits of Warner Bros. However, this is retained on the Warner Archive DVD-R of Orphans, the Warner Archive Blu-ray of Running On Empty, and the Columbia TriStar/Sony Entertainment DVDs and 88 Films UK Blu-Ray of Two Moon Junction (being that RCA/Columbia released the film on VHS/Laserdisc, since Lorimar only had theatrical distribution rights). This was originally seen on films such as The Boy Who Could Fly, The Morning After,'' Big Shots'', The Fourth Protocol, and Made in Heaven. Return of the Living Dead Part II was also one with this logo but got with Warner's plastering habits it got plastered on the 2004 DVD release (it is presumed, though, that the recent Scream Factory Blu-Ray release restores it since it will also feature a new 4K restoration). Also found on the Lorimar Home Video releases of Action Jackson, including the late '90s Warner Home Video VHS and a Bounce TV airing in January 2016. The first film to carry the logo was American Anthem. Editor's Note: Could be too bright for some at the beginning, but it's a decent logo. At least they tried something different. 4th Logo (September 9, 1988-August 24, 1990) Logo: Technically more of an in-credit text. After 1988, Warner Bros. distributed Lorimar films and placed their 1984 logo in front of the prints. After the WB shield appears, either on a black background or in front of the main titles, we see the text "LORIMAR FILM ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS" in the style of the credits font. Variant: On Dangerous Liasons ''(1988), the text reads "A LORIMAR FILM ENTERTAINMENT PICTURE". FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: None. Music/Sounds: Usually, the main title music plays over it. Availability: Considering this is an in-credit logo, it won't be hard to find compared to the first and second logos. Examples include ''Running on Empty (with the 2nd logo preceding it), Dangerous Liasons (1988), Second Sight, Penn and Teller Get Killed ''and ''The Witches. The latter film later omitted the Lorimar text and replaced it with "Warner Bros. presents"; both versions are available. Editor's Note: None.